Publishing/Editorial Glossary

Abbreviations:

AP
Associated Press, which has its own style guidelines

CDC
Chicago Distribution Center, who distributes the WVU Press’s books.

CIP
Cataloguing-in-Publication data supplied by the Library of Congress for each book.  Typically, it is the responsibility of the press GTA to apply for CIP data.

MS
manuscript

TOC
table of contents

Terms:

Back Matter
everything that follows the last page of the main text (i.e., afterword, bibliography, author bio, etc.)

Callout
reference in text to indicate placement of image

Cross-References
reference by an author to another point in the text or to another author’s work in the same book

Edition
“version” of a text. For a new printing to be considered a new edition, there have to be significant changes made or new material added

Extract
block quote set out in text, usually indented, although we are placing them flush left more and more often

Front Matter
everything that precedes the first page of the main text (i.e., title page, copyright, table of contents, preface, etc.)

Global
applicable to the whole work (e.g., global changes)

Half Title
main title of the book; does not include subtitle

House Style
editorial style rules that are particular to a certain publishing house/press

Launch
the start point of the publication process of a book, where the basic information of the book is confirmed and the team discusses what needs done to get the process moving forward

Leading
vertical space betweens lines of text

Orphan
a word or part of a word that appears by itself on the last line of the paragraph, or the first line of a paragraph at the bottom of a page when the rest of the paragraph is on the following page

Reprint
new printing of book with no significant changes (errors may be corrected)

Running Heads
the chapter name/author name that runs across the top of each page

Style Sheet
a document created by an editor or copyeditor that details any terms that the editor was unsure about and any editorial decisions about spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, etc.  Its purpose is to maintain consistency & accuracy in the text.
 
Subheads
section headings in a text, not including chapter titles. They are often referred to by their level; a level 1 subhead would be a typical heading, while a level 2 subhead would fall within/below another heading.

Subsidy
money provided by a grant or foundation to help with or cover publication costs

Tracking
horizontal space between characters

Transmittal Sheet
a document that contains details about each book. Staff members will usually receive a draft of this before a launch meeting and a final copy will be put on the server. This is the go-to source for ISBNs, final title/subtitle, subsidy statements, format, etc.

Query
a question concerning the text, usually for the author/volume editor. Author queries usually concern questionable facts, confusion/clarification, and rewording to rectify awkwardness or lack of clarity.

Widow
a word (or few words) of a paragraph alone at the top of the new page